Big Barda (New Earth)
]] Barda was born of the race of New Gods about 250 years ago, on Apokolips. She is a product of Granny Goodness' Home for Orphaned Youth. Granny's motto is "Die for Darkseid" (the planet's evil ruler). Granny grooms Barda to one day lead the Female Fury Battalion, a ferocious pack of women warriors. However, during a raid Barda meets Scott Free, Darkseid's adopted son, and, sensing a peace about him, falls in love. Barda risks her own safety to help Scott escape from Apokolips. Eventually, Barda turns her back on Granny, and comes to Earth herself. Scott has become an escape artist called Mister Miracle, and is teamed with Oberon, his diminutive manager. Scott and Barda are married by Scott's father, the Highfather of New Genesis. Wife and Hero In a reversal of the stereotype associated with female characters at the time of her creation, Barda is physically more powerful than her husband, is more than willing to use her strength in battle, and is very protective of her husband. For a number of years, Barda follows Scott and Oberon on tour. Eventually they retire as superheroes and move to Bailey, New Hampshire. However, despite their best attempts, a normal life eludes them. Disasters plague them; Barda, Scott, and Oberon leave Bailey and move to a loft in Greenwich Village, New York City. Barda forms a defense-training program for women called the New Female Furies. (During this time, Barda and Superman are captured and mind-controlled by Sleez, who plans to force the two to perform in an adult film. At the last moment they are rescued by Mr. Miracle.) Though naive regarding Earth customs, Barda relishes her roles of wife and housekeeper. However, when duty calls she never hesitates to assume the posture of a warrior, and when Scott joins the Justice League, Barda participates in several missions. After his time with the JLI, the two leave Earth for New Genesis. However, they soon return to Earth and take up temporary residence aboard the Justice League Refuge. During this period the couple separate briefly due to Scott's lack of consideration for her feelings. Barda has served as a member of the JLA in her own right: at Takion's order, she and fellow New God Orion are sent as agents of New Genesis to serve on the team. (Takion predicts that the Earth faces a grave threat.) Their mission is to help mobilize Earth's heroes against the omnipotent Mageddon. Once Mageddon is defeated, Barda and Orion resign from the JLA. Barda and Scott reside in the suburbs of Connecticut and are active adventurers. Barda never hesitates to lend a hand to her friends when her power and expertise are needed. Sleez Barda was in the Suicide Slums in Metropolis when she had her purse snatched. The mugger, who got away, was later killed by an Apokoliptan Ash-Crawler, who brought the purse to the depraved, disgusting, and evil, Sleez. Sleez then found Barda's Mega-Rod in the purse and used it against her when she came for it. Two days later, he forced Barda to wear a very short and skimpy outfit, barefoot and seemingly topless, and dance and perform implied sexual favors for him, while he filmed it all. Just when he was about to rape Barda, Superman arrived and tossed Sleez aside, helping Barda up from the floor, seeing as she had been forced to dance for quite awhile. Superman asked who she was, and if she was Wonder Woman under all the make-up. Brad took the distraction to grab the Mega-Rod and blast Superman repeatedly with it. Barda, who thought Superman was just another part in Sleez' scheme, almost killed Superman. But before she could act, Sleez took the Rod from Barda and dropped them both in a pit. Sleez then sold the tape of him and Barda to a store that specializes in 'adult entertainment'. Darkseid's agents somehow got ahold of the tape and Darkseid showed it to Mister Miracle. Mister Miracle then went to find Barda who was, along with Superman, being controlled by Sleez forced to make an 'adult movie' with Superman. Mister Miracle arrived, and Superman went after Sleez, who seemingly perished in an explosion. The Supergirl from Krypton At one point, Superman gathers the whole Superman Family to challenge Darkseid for Steel's life. Barda demands to go with them, looking to spit on Darkseid's face, but Superman refuses on grounds that the presence of non-Kryptonian heroes would give Darkseid an excuse to retaliate against Earth. However, when Kara Zor-El is kidnapped by Darkseid, Barda accompanies Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman to Apokolips to rescue the young Kryptonian from his clutches and fights the Female Furies together with Wonder Woman battle the Female Furies. One Year Later and Death Later, Barda accepts an invitation from Oracle to become the heavy-hitter on the Birds of Prey. In a confrontation with the Secret Six, she engages Knockout, another ex-Fury, in hand-to-hand combat. Although the fight was long and was continued above all other worries, it ended in a draw. Not long after this fight, Barda was killed by Infinity-Man. , see excerpt At the end of Final Crisis, she is seen with a re-born New Genesis, implying that, perhaps, she's not really dead after all. , see excerpt | Powers = * : The beings of New Genesis call themselves Gods and live outside of normal time and space in a realm called the Fourth World. These New Gods have evolved due to their close proximity to the Source, a primeval energy, believed to be one of the ultimate foundations of the Universal Expression of Energy, along with their superior technology, into beings of genetic stability and evolutionary perfection. The denizens of New Genesis are immortal, stronger, faster, and smarter than homo sapiens, despite their resemblance to the same. ** : Barda was born in the year 1748 (in human years). Like few other of the New Gods, Barda is functionally immortal, having ceased aging physically near the age of 30. Unless she falls in battle, Barda is immune to the ravages of time, and could easily live for thousands upon thousands of years. ** : Even outside her armor, Barda is fairly difficult to damage. She is resistant to blunt trauma like punches, kicks, and blows from weapons like bats and maces, though not completely immune. unless the blows are dealt by a being with similar or greater strength than Barda, there just isn't a chance of injury. However, her invulnerability does not extend to bullets, laser-blasts, or other piercing/slicing weapons - her invulnerability is more akin to that of an Amazon, rather than a Kryptonian. ** : Barda has an enhanced physiology which allows her to move her entire body at incredible speeds and with heightened accuracy. Despite wielding weapons and armor and even alien tech, she's able to move and flow with astonishing ease. Given the opportunity Barda can and will dodge bullets which would've normally bounced off her armor. ** : Barda's stamina and endurance is nothing short of amazing. Due to the naturally exhausting and extensive rigors of her life on Apokolips, Barda is able to manage her stamina on a certain amount of rest and sustenance (more than minimal) so that it seems she is able to constantly function, though this is not entirely the case. Tied directly to her strength and invulnerability, even her immunity to a certain extent, Barda can actually function at peak efficiency for almost 48 hours before needing to eat and rest off the stress. ** : Barda's super strength comes from her heritage as a member of New Genesis, where all of the people of that realm are genetically superior to normal humans in their physical characteristics. She was later augmented by Darkseid to further increase her strength and stamina at least by twenty-fold. Barda's strength is in the megaton range, nearly on the order of Wonder Woman's, easily able to lift a weight well surpassing 100 tons. | Abilities = * : Barda is a highly trained warrior and a master of all forms of hand-to-hand combat and combat with weapons. Barda is one of the most feared combatants on Earth or New Genesis. She has even managed to fight Wonder Woman to a draw. * | Strength = | Weaknesses = * : New Gods are vulnerable to a substance called Radion. It source is unknown and its effects are toxic only in sustained amounts or after explosive exposure. The average New God can be slain by an application of Radion from a Radion blaster or bomb. More advanced beings such as Barda, protected by their mother box, armor and sheer toughness, have been known to take two hits and survive. Because Radion is a rare material New Gods are not particularly wary of it during regular combat. | Equipment = * Motherbox * Aero-Discs * Apokaliptian Armor | Transportation = * Boom-Tube | Weapons = * Mega-Rod * Spear * Shield | Notes = | Trivia = * Big Barda likes playing Pokémon cards, she learned them from Sin. , see excerpt * A similar-looking character named Little Barda appeared as a member of the Teen Titans in 52; the character leaves the group in the same issue. Her relationship to Big Barda is unknown. | Recommended = | Wikipedia = Big Barda | Links = }} Category:Female Furies members